ASIA

The 59th ABU General Assembly and associated meetings will be hosted by India’s public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, in New Delhi from 25 to 30 November 2022.It will be the first face–to–face General Assembly after two years of running the GA and other meetings online.The General Assembly itself will be held on 29 and 30 November. The theme for this year’s assembly is ‘Serving the People: Media’s Role in Times of Crisis’.

The days before the General Assembly will include meetings of the Administrative Council, the Radio Working Party, the Programme Committee, the Sports Group and the Technical Committee, as well as the ABU Prizes and TV Song Festival and the Women with the Wave forum.ABU Vice–President and CEO of Prasar Bharati, Shashi Shekhar Vempati, invited all ABU members to attend in an invitation to the ABU President, Masagaki Satoru, Executive Vice President of NHK-Japan.“The GA 2022 shall serve as an opportunity to share with Broadcast Media leaders from across the Asia Pacific and other regions the transformational journey of independent India over the past 75 years,” he said.The ABU Secretary-General, Javad Mottaghi, expressed his thanks to Prasar Bharati for hosting the General Assembly and Associated Meetings.The ABU will soon circulate the registration form to members as well as the required information for their travelling plans to New Delhi. […]

Adthos Creative Studio now includes the ability to include real-time sporting data into dynamic audio ads and content thanks to a brand-new partnership with the world’s leading sports technology company, Sportradar. Existing users of the platform will be able to use the scheduling and results of major sporting events to create up-to-the-minute audio ads or content.  
 Sportradar collects and analyses sports data across 80+ sports, 500+ sports leagues and over 750,000 events a year globally.  By partnering with Sportradar, Adthos Creative Studio has access to highly reliable data from sources such as NBA Basketball, UEFA football and World Rugby, to NASCAR, Tennis, Major League Baseball and much more.  
In addition, Adthos Creative Studio now comes with dozens of pre-built templates featuring dynamic data from sports matches. These templates allow users to create audio ads and content at a moment’s notice, based on one of the 750.000 events that Sportradar covers, customizing the event, teams and the language or even personalizing it for the listener. Enabling advertisers and audio publishers to reach global audiences in their native languages, sharing up to the minute content that goes beyond what might have been previously possible – match reports, player information, play-by-play and more – in a way that is inclusive and accessible for all.  
Raoul Wedel, CEO of Adthos says: “When creating dynamic audio ads or content for broadcast, you need the highest reliability of data – and when it comes to sports data, that means Sportradar. As the world’s leading sports technology company, they are the perfect partner for Adthos. This collaboration allows us to support our users in real-time ad and content creation using the latest data from major sport events, alongside the latest in AI and synthetic voice technology.” 
Adthos Creative Studio, part of the Adthos Ad Sales Platform, is the only end-to-end audio production tool that uses synthetic voices to create audio advertising that can be delivered directly into broadcast playout systems or ad serving technologies.  
Curious about what it can do? The makers of Adthos have created a special showcase to allow everyone to experience the possibilities for themselves.  […]

Radio Taiwan International (RTI) and the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) came together to organize a forum on Taiwan in London on Friday.Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen opened the Forum with a pre-recorded speech.She said the spread of authoritarianism, false information, and the suppression of media freedom have placed an unprecedented burden on journalists. Tsai said the AIB nominations reflect the many challenges facing the world today, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the Ukraine War. The president said everyone must work together to defend press freedom and make society more resilient to authoritarian influence.

Tsai said that Taiwan has established a new Ministry of Digital Affairs to further enhance media literacy and improve national information security. She is pleased to see government measures to strengthen transparency, fact-checking, and media participation bringing tangible help to the public. The president said she is glad to see discussions of topics related to Taiwan being held at the AIB event.Tsai noted that Taiwan has a vibrant media environment and is rated by Reporters Without Borders as one of the freest countries in Asia.  She said she hopes to see more and more international media stationed in Taiwan.Digital Minister Audrey Tang also spoke at the event. Tang shared Taiwan’s experience facing online attacks and countering disinformation with humorous content. She said Taiwan is a resilient island and the country has many ways to respond to different kinds of attacks. Her ministry’s purpose is to enhance digital resilience and to protect Taiwan’s democracy.Taiwan Digital Diplomacy Association head Chiayo Kuo said her organization uses memes and other soft power methods to improve Taiwan’s image in the world. She said the war in Ukraine has demonstrated the importance of the internet in modern conflicts. She hoped that digital diplomacy efforts like those from her organization will bring more people to Taiwan’s side.RTI Chairperson Cheryl Lai said Taiwan’s national broadcaster is combining the strength of the government and civil society to lead Taiwan’s participation in international events. […]

India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said that senior IAS officer Gaurav Dwivedi  has been appointed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati on Monday.Prasar Bharati is India’s state-owned public broadcaster, headquartered in New Delhi. It is a statutory autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament and comprises the Doordarshan Television Network and All India Radio, which were earlier media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.The I&B ministry in a statement said: “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990 read with sub- section (4) of Section 4 and sub-section (2A) of Section 6 of that Act, the President, on the recommendation of the Selection Committee, is pleased to appoint Shri Gaurav Dwivedi, IAS(CH: 95) as the executive member (chief executive officer} in Prasar Bharati with effect from the date he assumes charge of the office, for a term of five years.”

Dwivedi is currently posted as chief executive officer of MyGov, under the ministry of electronics and information technology and is responsible for managing the Indian government’s citizen engagement platform.He replaces Shashi Shekhar Vempati. Shashi Shekhar Vempati was the CEO of Prasar Bharati from 2017 to 2022. After Vempati completed his five-year tenure, Director General of Doordarshan Mayank Agrawal was given the additional charge of CEO Prasar Bharati in June this year. […]

Australian public broadcaster SBS has expanded its international news offering, adding news bulletins in the major South Asian languages Malayalam and Gujarati.The news bulletins from India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati are being shown on its SBS WorldWatch channel.SBS WorldWatch launched in May 2022 as a free-to-air channel, expanding the broadcaster’s international and multilingual news offering. The channel provides Australians with access to news bulletins from around the world in languages other than English.

The two bulletins have been added to better serve Australia’s evolving news audiences, as speakers of Gujarati have increased by 54 percent since the 2016 Australian census and speakers of Malayalam by 48 percent.Central to the channel’s offering are SBS’s flagship half-hour nightly news bulletins in Mandarin and Arabic, produced in-house, serving the two largest non-English language audiences in the country.Director of News and Current Affairs, Mandi Wicks, said: “With the launch of SBS WorldWatch, the SBS network has undergone broader rescheduling of our multilingual TV news across the network, now offering 66 news bulletins from 49 different broadcasters in 36 languages other than English, and 20 in English.”SBS WorldWatch builds on SBS’s commitment to provide comprehensive news and information across its network – in English through SBS World News and in more than 60 languages across SBS Radio services, podcasting and digital platforms.(Photo: SBS) […]

India’s private radio players, through industry body Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI), have urged the country’s telecom regulator -Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), not to recommend allowing not-for-profit companies to run community radios.According to them, granting permission to not-for-profit companies falling under Section 8 of Companies Act, 2013, would come at a financial loss to the exchequer as such companies would become eligible for benefits like reduced license fee, access to spectrum without auction, lower spectrum usage charges, among others, thereby reducing revenue for the government and giving strong competition to small community radios.Presently there are 356 community radio stations operational in the country, broadcasting content that is of specific interest to communities in a particular geography. Current rules permit only civil society and voluntary organisations, educational institutes, state agriculture universities, registered societies and autonomous bodies, and public charitable trusts are to operate community radio stations.

In July, following a suggestion from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, TRAI had sought comments from stakeholders on whether not-for-profit companies under Section 8 should be allowed to set up community radio stations.Section 8 of the Companies Act includes companies formed to promote commerce, art, science, sports, education, research, social welfare, religion, charity, protection of environment or any such other object. Such companies also intend to apply their profits or other income to promote their objectives.“Section 8 companies are set up by large organisations, and through community radio stations they will get a back door entry to commercial radio broadcasts at negligible costs,” said Uday Chawla, Secretary General, AROI, during an open-house discussion conducted by Trai on the subject.“If I am running a larger organisation, I will be able to create an NGO and take a community radio licence … then why is there a need for auction of spectrum by the government,” he said.“Basic purpose for community radios is to cater to people in a particular geography. However, Section 8 companies are thematic and incorporated for special purposes, therefore, they may not be able to serve specific interest of a community and should not be allowed,” said Prashant Ramdas, legal head at Entertainment Network (India), operator of Mirchi FM.While certain levies for community radios are kept at a bare minimum, the industry has been struggling for a sustainable business model due to fewer advertisements and limited access.“Community radio as an industry is struggling. We want the government to provide us financial support,” said B S Panwar, president, Community Radio Association of India. The association, along with community radio station operators, has urged the Centre to provide them annual grants and ask state governments to use community radios as a preferred medium to advertise their policies. […]